Communal Guidelines

Communal Guidelines

In the Ohev Sholom community, we recognize that having kosher communal meals to celebrate Shabbat and Yom Tov are core to our observance. The community standards outlined below are intended to enable anyone to feel confident offering and accepting hospitality within our shul community, while ensuring that food and beverages can be eaten and enjoyed according to the Laws of Shabbat and Yom Tov. Please contact Maharat Friedman if anything in these guidelines are unclear or if you have further questions.

Kashrut Standards

Food in our community should be cooked, prepared, and served using only cooking utensils, serving utensils, and cutlery that have been exclusively used for kosher food, that have been made kosher according to kashering, or that are new and/or disposable. If you have any questions about kashering your kitchen or other kashrut questions, please contact Maharat Friedman.

Approved Hechshers (Kashrut Symbols)

As a community, we want everyone to feel comfortable, so we encourage you to review this list of acceptable hechshers that was prepared by ASBI Congregation in Chicago which can be used as a general guideline. ​​​​​If you have questions about a specific food item or hashgacha we encourage you to contact our clergy.

List of Acceptable Hechshers / Kashrut Symbols

Note: Any meat or chicken must be Glatt Kosher, and cheeses must have a hechsher from the approved list.

Kosher Wines

The laws concerning wine and what makes wine permissible to drink are complex.  Even if wine is labeled kosher, if it is not also labeled as “cooked” (mevushal), then the wine once opened can at times become “non-kosher.” There are many laws pertaining to how non-cooked wine can become “non-kosher.” As a general rule, we recommend that due to the many friends and relatives of all religious backgrounds who grace our homes on Shabbat and holidays, only mevushal wine should be served at all meals that are attended by guests. If you have a strong desire to drink non-mevushal wine (and, indeed, there are many who argue that it is proper to use non-mevushal wine for kiddush on shabbat), then we recommend that you call our clergy to discuss these laws in depth. Many wines sold in local stores may be kosher but not mevushal, and we would encourage you to look closely.

Shabbat & Yom Tov

Heating food on Shabbat (and to a lesser extent on Yom Tov) is a somewhat complicated topic that requires a thorough understanding of the laws.

Please review the article The Laws of Cooking and Heating Food on Shabbat & Yom Tov compiled by Maharat Ruth Friedman to help explain how food can be heated on Shabbat and Yom Tov.

Making Our Homes Friendly for Shabbat-Observant Guests

Please review the Shabbat & Yom Tov Guidelines below to help familiarize yourself with ways we can make all guests feel comfortable in our homes.

Shabbat & Yom Tov Hospitality Guidelines

Shaimos Guidelines 
Please review these guidelines for how Jewish texts should be disposed.